Apple Cinnamon Freezer Pancakes Recipe

Jamie here! With the weather going through cold spells every few days here in Tennessee, I thought it was a good time to remind you that pancakes are a great way to use up those apples and bananas that are starting to go soft! You can make a big batch and freeze them for easy school morning breakfasts 🙂

I may have mentioned before to you that I am not a morning person. My kids know this – and yet they still suffer under delusions that I might get a wild hair one morning, hop out of bed early and whip up a batch of pancakes before they leave for school. The poor dears.

Instead, I make freezer pancakes that they can prep themselves when they get a craving. These apple cinnamon freezer pancakes are one of their favorite breakfasts. They can pop in and out of the toaster in 5 minutes for a quick bite before running out the door. I make mine with apples, cinnamon and brown sugar so the kids won’t need syrup and it can be a hand-to-mouth kind of meal. Really, just think of it as more a flat muffin fried in butter than a pancake.

This Saturday night I hung out in my kitchen listening to 70’s rock and going through a box and a half of pancake mix. (See how talented I am – two skillets going at once!) As you can see – I make a lot of these freezer pancakes at a time. With 4 boys, they don’t go very far. For instance, it’s Tuesday, and two of the three gallon freezer bags are already gone.

Below is a recipe for you to go on, but I’ll warn you, this is definitely more in the “taste and add things as you go” camp. You’ll want to make a test pancake (or two, if you enjoy the testing part like I do)…

Apple Cinnamon Freezer Pancakes

Heat your skillet to medium and add a generous pat of butter.

Cut up an apple into small cubes (the smaller the better so none of my picky eaters complain about the texture). I used two apples, but then again – I was making a about 50 pancakes. This is a great way to use up the soft or bruised apples that the kids keep leaving in the fruit bowl 🙂 Don’t shy away from changing this into banana pancakes either – that goes great with the cinnamon too!

Prepare the pancake mix as directed on the box for about 20-24 pancakes, and then add your apple bits. Shake in a healthy dose of cinnamon (although I wouldn’t go over, say, a teaspoon) and add about a 1/2 cup of brown sugar. (White sugar’s fine too. Sometimes I mix them both in just for fun.)

Now it’s time for my favorite ingredient – vanilla! Pour about a capful of vanilla into the mix.

Stir it all together and you’ll notice that the mixture has thinned somewhat – shake some more pancake mix in to fix that problem.

Now it’s time for a test pancake.

Pour enough batter in your skillet to make a good-sized pancake that will still fit in a toaster. Mine usually end up as ovals – which makes the tops of them easier to snatch from the hot toaster slots. Wait for bubbles to cover the top of the batter, then flip. Check it after a minute to see if it’s golden brown and once it is, pull it off.

Just make one for starters – so you can see if it’s sweet enough for your taste. You may want to add more cinnamon. This is also the test to see if your pancake is solid enough. Since these will be reheated in the toaster, you don’t want any thin, wimpy pancakes. Remember, we’re thinking flat fried muffins here!

Once you’re happy that your pancakes are tasty enough to stand up on their own without syrup – make the entire batch, setting them on a baking rack to cool completely before stacking into a freezer bag.

When ready to eat, take straight from the freezer and toast until it has that slight crispness on the outside. The inside will be hot and fluffy and two of these will go a long way to keeping your tummy full and happy until lunch.

Hearty add-ins:

Freezer pancakes are just plain perfect vehicles to get fruit, nuts, whole grains and other goodness into the kids (and yourself). I’ve stirred in quick oats, wheat germ, applesauce, smushed bananas, chocolate chips, nuts, etc… to make heartier versions in the past. You can probably add in chia seeds and fry them in coconut oil too – if that’s your thing 😉